pwb@fritz.UUCP (Phil Bonesteele) (04/12/85)
Greetings...
I will very shortly be completing my private rating for sailplanes
and as I look down my future path of flying, I see that the only way
to get serious about my soaring is to be flying my own plane. The
problem is trying to convince my financial consultant (my wife) that
buying a plane is a desirable goal, given the high cost of production
sailplanes (other than a Switzer 2-33 or 1-26). The only solution I
can see is to investigate the cost, pros, cons, etc., of building my
own sailplane from a kit, which brings me to the purpose of this
query...
Does anyone out there in NetLand (look Toto, it's a Tin Hacker) know
anything about, or have leads to, information on home built
sailplanes? I remember hearing something about Burt Rutan (designer
of the canard Vari-EZ, Long-EZ, Vari-Viggen, etc. kit power
aircraft) building a canard sailplane. Has anyone ever seen, or
better yet, flown a canard sailplane? It seems to me that the
anti-stall features of a canard design would work quite well in a
soaring environment (thermaling close to stall speed). My primary
goal is to get a decent sailplane for as little cash as possible. In
future negotiations with my wife I can justify spending MY time much
easier than spending OUR money.
The life of being married to a CPA has its pros and cons when you're
an impulsive fool like myself. But if I was still single I'd
probably be destitute...
As they say...I'll summarize and repost responses, thanks in advance.
Phil Bonsteele, FileNet
{decvax,ihnp4,ucbvax}!trwrb!felix!pwb